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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Question Of The Purpose Of Anti-Miscegenation Laws, Tyler Dean
The Question Of The Purpose Of Anti-Miscegenation Laws, Tyler Dean
Merge
Using The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White, along with additional scholarly research and legal documentation for context, explores the ramifications and reasonings behind the creation and enforcement of anti-miscegenation laws. The primary individuals focused on suggest that anti-miscegenation laws were enacted for reasons outside of marriage's status as a union between two individuals. Social status, property inheritance, and even voting rights were denied to African Americans via the vehicle of anti-miscegenation laws. Just as other antebellum laws served to advance the agendas of the time, anti-miscegenation laws were no different. And the specific stories elaborated on …
The Meanings Of The "Privileges And Immunities Of Citizens" On The Eve Of The Civil War, David R. Upham
The Meanings Of The "Privileges And Immunities Of Citizens" On The Eve Of The Civil War, David R. Upham
Notre Dame Law Review
The Fourteenth Amendment to our Constitution provides, in part, that “[n]o State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” This “Privileges or Immunities Clause” has been called “the darling of the professoriate.” Indeed, in the last decade alone, law professors have published dozens of articles treating the provision. The focus of this particular study is the interpretation of the “privileges and immunities of citizens” offered by American political actors, including not only judges, but also elected officials and private citizens, before the Fourteenth Amendment, and primarily, on the …
The Gag Rule: From Compromise To Contradiction, Timothy A. Byram
The Gag Rule: From Compromise To Contradiction, Timothy A. Byram
Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship
This essay examines the gag rule of 1836, its motivations and effects. Enacted in 1836 to counter the growing vitriol of the slavery debates, it was later repealed in 1844, following sustained controversy. To begin, the essay analyzes the historical context which informed the rule’s enactment, going over the Second Great Awakening and its role in intensifying the abolitionist movement. It proceeds to examine both the proximate historical explanations for the gag rule, such as recent slave revolts, as well as the more abstract, theoretical arguments concerning how enforced silence can function within democratic legislation. Finally, the essay elucidates the …
Prisons, Edward L. Ayers
Prisons, Edward L. Ayers
History Faculty Publications
American penitentiaries developed in two distinct phases, and southern states participated in both. Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, and Georgia built prisons before 1820, and between 1829 and 1842 new or newly reorganized institutions were established in Maryland, Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama. Only the Carolinas and Florida resisted the penitentiary before the Civil War.